I was initially worried about this week's blog post, because it had been a long time since we wrapped up our discussion of Cat's Cradle. I then realized that a blog, in addition to hopefully helping others think about things that they wouldn't necessarily have thought of on their own, is a personal checkup. It gives the person writing it a record that gives a snapshot of their emotions and thoughts at a certain point in time. While it has been a long time since we wrapped up discussion of Cat's Cradle, that same discussion has also had time to settle and that allows me to explore the ideas that really stuck with me, and how I wrestled with them over the past few days.
I don't agree with the idea that Jonah and Bokonon are one in the same. The main reason that I think they remain separate is that there are no overt reasons why they would be the same person. While Vonnegut may overtly lie at many points in this book, this does not mean that he would sacrifice his integrity or quality as a writer. I think that Vonnegut's argument about lies is more effective with Bokonon as the creator of the religion, almost an analog for Vonnegut, and Jonah someone for the reader to learn about the value of lies/Bokononism from.
I don't agree or disagree with the Jonah/Bokonon fight club theory that they are the same person not because I'm unsure, but because I don't think it really matters in the end. If we take them as the same person, what actually changes? It adds an interesting twist, but Vonnegut still makes his point about futility of humanity and the way we live our lives. If they are separate people that point is still made only this time by using Jonah as an example of Vonnegut's point rather than a communicator of it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dan here. I honestly think that it doesn't matter whether or not Jonah and Bokonon are the same person. I think that what matters is that they could be. The meta-textual nature of Cat's Cradle means that Vonnegut imbued Jonah with the same creative license that he has as an author: Jonah can say whatever he wants, and lie wherever he wants.
ReplyDeleteFirst off I completely agree with everything you said about blog pertaining to a person's current snapshot of emotion, and its ability to get at the essence at what pieces of the literature really stuck with the reader. As for the argument as to whether or not Jonah and Bokonon are the same, I too am both unsure and agree with Dan and Liam that regardless of what I believe on the relationship between the two, it is irrelevant to the actual core of the story.
ReplyDelete